Thursday 27 November 2014

Radioactive Man (Marvel Legends)

Marvel Legends Radioactive Man
It seemed like Radioactive Man is the only character here in this 3-Pack that's lost and has no relation or any kind of role that ties him with our Avengers' Captain America and Ms. Marvel. But the theme circling around this boxset is not about The Avengers but rather the Civil War storyline where this green dude apparently, was part of; a part where he and his team of Thunderbolts played minor roles. Whether my speculation is true or not, I would have suggested a different character than Radioactive Man but perhaps Hasbro is slowly introducing the Thunderbolts so maybe that's why he is here.














Yes, I know he looked different from most of the action figures I've reviewed here but this is not the first time we had a translucent candy-like plastic used on a Marvel Legends figure. ML Electro also got the same type of plastic but mainly composed on his head. As you can see in these photos, Radioactive Man got them around him except his suit.


On his suit though, he got this glow-in-the-dark asterisk painted right in the middle of his chest. Got lots of fancy stuff around him!


It seems like the only parts that are painted is torso, skirt, boots and the areas that surround his eyes. The "green" which gave the colour of his skin is from the plastic itself. Basically, they just shaped his suit by painting this guy green with a matted finish and... viola!


Sculpt-wise, there is no major changes but the face. I believe this Radioactive Man figure follows the same facial format with Luke Cage but actually the two look different if you compare them closely. What also made him unique from the guys with this type of body mold is his skirt.

"Mr. Blue, meet Mr. Green"

The articulation, as you might have guessed, is the same with the Marvel Legends Luke Cage. Standard ball-pegged at the head. Standard Marvel Legends-style ab crunch and waist swivel. The arms are all the same as well as the legs. The articulation in those hips and legs, however, are limited due to his skirt even if it's made out of soft plastic.


If you're more or less determined to complete a Thunderbolts team while hoping that Hasbro will release the rest of the members anytime soon, then you need to grab a character like Radioactive Man. He may not be the type of Marvel character you like to care about, but he's probably the type you need to have for completion purposes. Overall, the Marvel Legends Radioactive Man is another decent figure that is well-fitted in this body mold.


Wednesday 26 November 2014

Ms. Marvel (Marvel Legends)

Marvel Legends Ms. Marvel
After Marvel Legends-Hasbro had successfully created a Black Cat figure with such beauty and good design, I never doubted that they could give us another good-looking siren in the form of a Ms. Marvel anytime soon. And that "soon" was a month ago when I purchased the Target Exclusive Marvel Legends 3-Pack Collectors Edition with the "oh-my-goodness" there's a Ms. Marvel in it! You have no idea how happy I am to see a classic Ms. Marvel/Warbird that looked a lot better than the Toy Biz one. Unlike the ML Magneto (which was a disappointment), Ms. Marvel is one of those "remakes" by Hasbro that passes to almost all the standards.













I say "almost" because she is not entirely perfect. The only drawback to this figure is the paint job. At a meter distance, you can already see how sloppy the paints are applied. The areas near her thigh cuts got a noticeable amount of glops around it along with some paint rubs lining up around the edges. This action figure totally got no respect for Ms. Marvel's flawless legs! Also, there is quite a bit of that problem around her shoulders and scuff marks between her boobies. Good thing they didn't screw up with the application of paint over her face or else this would be another failed attempt to out-challenge ToyBiz.


If you look at her technically, Ms. Marvel is just repaint of the Marvel Legends Moonstone. The body mold and even the face sculpt is very much the same. The musculature and breast size are bigger compared to those older female body molds we had like the ones for Mystique and Emma Frost. The only thing being added here is that red sash made of soft plastic.


The sash could have been a lot better if it's articulated and has some sort of ball-peg that allows it swivel at the knots. It's probably not that hard to install.



For a figure which has a body mold identical to Moonstone, the articulation is also identical. As with most of our female Legends figures, Ms. Marvel's head movement is limited by the length of her hair. She got the ball-hinges to her shoulders, rotation at the biceps and wrists, double-joints at the elbows, and hinges at the wrists. She got that ball-pegged diaphragm that can rock her body sideways as well as rotates. Her legs has the T-joints at the hips, rotation at the upper thighs, double-joints at the knees, hinges to the ankles plus the pivots. Sadly, no rotation at the mid-calves.


Such an essential member of the Avengers should not be left missing in those collection. Despite all the imperfections, this Marvel Legends figure is a must-have for we may not find another one that is close to rendering the comic version of Ms. Marvel. She is in perfect scale with the rest of the 6-inch scale and the best one out there.


Tuesday 25 November 2014

Captain America (Marvel Legends)

Marvel Legends Captain America
Oh, it's him again! Another Captain America action figure. With this Target Exclusive release, we now have a total of four Captain Americas from Marvel Legends this year alone and I'm kind of starting to think maybe Hasbro got some major obsession-issues with this character. Don't get me wrong though, Cap is one of my favourite Marvel superheroes but getting a shield-wielding superhero year after year could drive a Legends collector like me mad. The only thing that made me smile upon laying my eyes on it is the fact that most of the aweful features that the Ultimate Captain America have from Wave 3 (Hit-Monkey Wave) has been brought to justice and refurbished in this newer, more updated and accurate look. Now this is the Captain America I would salute!












Of the three figures inside this boxset, Captain America is the only one with an interchangeable part- a head, which looked a lot similar to Commander Steve Rogers of the Terrax Build-A-Figure Wave. Also, we got the removable belt and, of course the shield like the ones from Ultimate Cap. The only difference is that this updated version wears straps instead of the vest, which I liked better.


The figure could easily be mistaken as a customized action figure because of how easy it is to see those differences. An example of which is his right thigh, which doesn't have that stupid gun glued on it anymore and I gotta thank Hasbro for eliminating that. You'll also notice that Cap's utility belt along with the stuffs that hang around it got these handsome dry brushings that further enhanced the sculpting. Probably the only paint work that isn't necessary are those eyebrows- it may not look obvious from a distance and not really much of a big issue but I think it's better if they just "covered" it.


In addition, Cap's "blue" is perkier than the Ultimate one but not as vibrant as the Marvel Now Captain America. The colour scheme and pattern are all alike except that this one has the "star" painted on his shoulders and I do appreciate how Hasbro made the outfit looked true to the comics. However, I'm  not pleased how these big bad hinges on his shoulders are ruining its shape every time you move them. I know there must be a better way doing this, and I know Hasbro have action figures that doesn't have these ugly joints, ...so why not take from those.


The reason why I hate this body mold is because of that caved in stomach that looked as though someone punched him in that section. Otherwise, I got no problem with the rest of the sculpt. The muscle definition and bulkiness are at the right size for this super soldier, and it's translated well of what Cap might look like in joints and plastic.


Same with our Ultimate Captain America, the articulation is not what I'd like to call superb. No hinges at the wrists and he got that ball-hinge at the hips which I despise. Cap's head can aim at almost all directions. To his arms, he got ball-hinged shoulders, swivels at the biceps and mid-arms, and double-joints at the elbows. He got an ab crunch plus a rotation at the waistline. To his legs, he has rotation at the upper thighs and mid-calves, double-joints at the knees and pivots at the ankles.


Without a doubt, the new ML Captain America (Ultimate) beats the old one from Wave 3 and gets you to think of throwing that of which has the gun glued at the side of the leg. This is "the" 6-inch Captain America figure that I would recommend which has a more striking comic book feature. I would also like to recommend this to people who are huge at collecting Captain America stuffs. To those people, I say to you that we don't know how often Hasbro will be giving us different styles and different iterations of Captain America but one sure thing is that they love you guys.


Wednesday 19 November 2014

Stryfe (Marvel Legends)

Marvel Legends Stryfe
There are two interesting facts I learned about Stryfe today. One- he carries a weapon called a toothpick... I mean- a sword, and two- he got nipples showing off his armour. While it's probably not a major deal that he comes with a sword (which I doubt he ever used one) that is not in-scale to his size, the inverted nipples (and there are four of them over his chest) are just the oddest and funniest things to see. My guess is that Hasbro wanted it to look like Stryfe's "energy ports" like Iron Man's arc reactor but with poor sculpting, it appeared nipple-like! Nail file to the rescue!














Stryfe is part of the Marvel Legends X-Men Jubilee Build-A-Figure Wave along with Cyclops, Storm, Magneto and the Unmasked Wolverine, and carries Jubilee's head and blast effects. And like Sabretooth and Gladiator, he is a "machismo" with the Luke Cage body mold. Despite being not 100% impressed with this body mold, there are a few characters in the Marvel universe that might fit to this type of physique, and having it on Stryfe is not that bad except that he looked almost like a muscle builder.


But thanks to that body armour he's wearing, those bulky arms and feet are a bit hidden. The addition of spikes on top of his shoulders and thighs, and fins behind his legs made him gorgeously intimidating like a knight from the future. The sculpt on his headdress is done symmetrically and by the looks of it, it seemed that it would hinder his head articulation but it's completely not getting its way. The one thing that bothered me is his cape- it got this wave forming like an "S"... which appear nice from the back but once you view Stryfe at the frontside, that S-cape kind of make him look ridiculously awkward.


The cape with its nice texturing is glued at the back of his chest armour and from what I heard, you can actually take the cape off by also taking off the armour. It's interesting how the parts are being assembled all together. The only parts that are not glued are his armbands and his epic loin cloth which you can spin around and are made of a soft plastic material. Stryfe only has one accessory and that is his sword which to me, looked really cheap and hungry for some paint work.


Speaking of paint work, the combination of gunmetal gray and ash gray made this figure a real stunner! The gunmetal paint over his flesh got that shiny reflective finish while the ash gray paint over his armour has that slight gloss in it but not as shiny as the other one. As for those four (4) nipple-like energy ports, maybe it would have been nicer if Hasbro applied the middle with white paint and dark gray paint at its indented border. The rest of the paint work is, otherwise well done.


Articulation-wise, he is as poseable as the Marvel Legends Luke Cage, but some of the movements are hindered by the bulk of his armour like for example, his shoulders. The figure fails to meet its potential because of this reason. Stryfe has rotation to the biceps, double-joints to the elbows, rotation at the wrists as well as hinges. He got the ab crunch with movements being limited by his stiff cape but has a fully functional waist rotation. He has T-joints, rotation at the upper thighs, double-joints at the knees, ankle rockers with the hinges. Sadly, no mid-calf rotation on this one.


Overall, I'm not too impressed nor too disappointed with this figure. Hasbro could have added maybe 20% more paint work that could enhance the details. He stands at about 7.4 inches tall and I got no problem having the Luke Cage body mold being used here, however, they could at least get the sculpt right and I'm not gonna say this again. Being the first Stryfe figure we have on a 6-inch scale, this Marvel Legends figure may be a good one to have (I guess) for your collection of X-Men villains but like the ML Magneto, he's not perfect and he's something that Hasbro would consider learning from.


Friday 14 November 2014

Storm - Marvel Now (Marvel Legends)

While I think having that mohawk style of haircut looked pretty badass, this version of Storm is not totally my best favourite. If you want to know which version I like then check out the Marvel Select Storm. But in the meantime, let's take a look at this Toys R Us Exclusive Marvel Legends Storm. Others like the new "Marvel Now-look" while some don't, her new outfit shouldn't affect your judgement on the action figure. The rendition is accurate and she probably is the best figure in this Series. But like the Marvel Legends Marvel Now Cyclops (also from this Series), I'm not really interested about this figure when she first got revealed.


The only thing that got me interested about is that cloth! It's hard to come by such material on an action figure like Marvel Legends. Storm's signature fashion has always been the cape with two pointy tips attached to her arms so resorting to cloth (instead of a pliable plastic) is a good choice to support poseability. However, there's a drawback to it- cloths get wrinkled and turn ugly overtime... not unless you have a miniature flat iron to keep it neat. And even if we have one, it's not gonna be easy to fix her cape the fact that it is fastened between her diaphragm with the two branching ends attached to those bangles around her arms. It's irremovable.


Also, giving her the Medusa body mold is another good choice. The hands appears to be the same with the Marvel Legends Medusa! Furthermore, that mohawk is a head-turner because of the way it's sculpted. With all that nice detail on her hair- looking realistic, it's hard to believe this is a Marvel Legends figure. And like Medusa and Emma Frost, she wears high heels which results to being unstable at standing.


Paint-wise, again- it's her mohawk that is showing a lot of details. Marvel Legends being not that really good at paint jobs, this figure made me liked to beg Hasbro to keep doing it. The dry brushing of gray colours on her hair is well executed. Looking at the rest of the paint job, I see no issues. No sort of seepages between the colours. Overall, it's clean and well painted.



When you have a figure that can't stand, it is hard to pull some dynamic poses even with hinges and rockers in her ankles. Like the Medusa action figure, her head is on a ball-peg that moves and rotates and angle but slightly hindered by her hair. No bicep rotation but Storm has rotation at the elbows and wrists, plus hinges on the shoulders, elbows and wrists. She got diaphragm swivel which I believe is ball-pegged because how it allows her to lean side to side. She got this T-jointed hips, rotation at the upper thigh and double-jointed knees which I truly love.


What really matters when you purchase this version of a Marvel Legends Storm is your fondness to the Marvel Now characters and/or the modern looks. She may not appease your taste for those classy generic superhero features but the quality of the action figure may satisfy you. That being said, she is a must-have figure. And of course if you want to complete your Jubilee Build-A-Figure, you need to grab Storm because she holds Jubilee's torso and feet.


Tuesday 11 November 2014

Cyclops - Marvel Now (Marvel Legends)

Marvel Legends NOW Cyclops
Cyclops is one of my favourite X-men superheroes and I might just consider myself a fan. When you're a fan, you'll definitely see all the changes they made on the character especially the suits! And I hate to say that this is the worst change they made on a Cyclops... or maybe I'm still not used to of looking at his new Marvel Now outfit. What's interesting for me is that big red "X" thing covering the center of his face... where are his eyes now?! With this, I think it would make a lot of sense that he wears his classic battle visor.















The Marvel Now Cyclops is part of the Jubilee Build-A-Figure Wave and he holds Jubilee's right arm. Being a Toys R Us exclusive, you can't find him at any retailers but in those stores. But since I'm not much of a fan with this Marvel Now version, so I wasn't really that crazy looking for this dude.


Like the Marvel Legends Astonishing Cyclops, the amount of articulation is entirely the same. The head is on a ball-peg which allows some good range of motion. His arms has ball-hinged shoulders, rotation at the biceps and wrists (with the hinges) and double-jointed elbows. He has an ab crunch plus a waist swivel at the torso. He got T-jointed hips, double-jointed knees, mid-calf rotation, hinged ankles with the ankle rockers.


Paint job is really plain and simple- you got this entire figure covered in black with some strips of red colours painted over it. The likeness to the character is accurate however, there is just lack of paint shading over that utility belt. The flesh colours on his face seem to seep in to his "visor"... or whatever you call it now. It is not done perfectly.


This body mold shouldn't be a stranger to you now. I'm not saying that the Bucky Cap or the Black Panther body mold is a poor choice, it is the only choice for a Marvel Legends Cyclops. The only differences you'll see when you compare him with the Astonishing version is (first) the added utility belt, (second) the face sculpt, obviously and (third) are the hands. Notice that the hands are both on closed fists instead of having the one hand doing the "Jean Grey pleasure pose"; that's one of the reasons why I like the Astonishing Cyclops better.


This action figure is greatly recommendable to a Cyclops collector or to someone who's planning to build a team of Marvel Now X-men figures. I believe this is the 4th time Hasbro gave us a 6-inch scale Cyclops, and if you're not a fan of this outfit or if you're someone like me who is yearning for a new Rogue, a new Gambit or a White Phoenix figure from Hasbro Marvel Legends then you definitely won't be happy and excited to see this.


Saturday 8 November 2014

Magneto (Marvel Legends)

Marvel Legends Magneto
As the Halloween vibe slowly fades and closets begin to hide costumes that may not be recycled for next year's trick or treat, Magi is still in the mood to give us one more fright! A fright that would drive us insane... this time in the form of poor sculpting and articulation. Announced 4 months ago, Magneto is part of the X-men Infinite Series Jubilee Build-A-Figure Wave along with other X-men characters in this Toys R Us Exclusive. I was quite excited- Marvel Legends having a second shot at this Magneto with Hasbro, and was hoping it would rectify the mistakes done by Toy Biz. But to my dismay, it didn't and I just can't control my head from shaking every time I see this... total murder and debauchery of an iconic X-men character.













Let me get us straight to the point- the face sculpt is horrendous! He got this huge gap between his eyes, too big of a nose and swollen chin to the point where he looked as though someone drove a battering ram to his face. The face sculpt captured no resemblance at all to the character. Magneto's cape is too long that it's almost hitting the ground, and... oh that feet looks abnormally huge! And having the Ultimate Captain America body mold (which is not my favourite by the way) is just adding insult to the injury. As you can see, this body mold has a depressed stomach that looks unnatural and strange. Everything just looked terribly strange with this Magneto! The only good thing about him is the sculpt on his pliable cape that's done nicely.


Paint-wise, I honestly don't have complains about it. The choice and application of colours is accurate. No paint defects or anything that would look like it's being painted by the same person who did the sculpt.


Magneto's cape of great lengths is detachable/re-attachable and what's also nice about it is that it's being supported by a peg; making it more stable and it doesn't move whenever you try to lean him in an angle while doing a flying pose.



The main reason why this body mold is not my favourite it's because of the articulation it cradles. Just like Ultimate Captain America, Magneto doesn't have hinges to bend the wrists. His hips are on hinged ball-joints which is not as good as the T-joints. He has waist rotation but, of course its movement is limited due to his wide belt. He got an ab crunch and ball-hinged shoulders that are limited due to that cape. Elbows and knees are double-jointed and that gigantamonious feet have hinges plus ankle rockers.


It's sad to know that Hasbro didn't quite learn the mistakes with the first Magneto we had from Toy Biz. In fact, this new Marvel Legends Magneto is really not an improvement from the previous. Hasbro's version of the Classic Magneto also has it's own version hideousity. This figure is an absolute letdown in which a recommendation is not needed. You may buy and get him just to fill that roster of X-men action figures but keeping would be a big no!